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Addresses delivered at dinner given by 
Lafayette Day National Committee and Lafayette- 
Mame Day Committee of New York at the Wal- 
dorf-Astoria, New York, October 11th, 1920, in 
honor of GENERAL FAYOLLE of the French 
Army, Commander of the American Forces at 
the Second Battle of the Mame July 1918, ap- 
pointed Marshal of France February 19, 1921. 



LAFAYETTE DAY NATIONAL COMMITTEE 



Charles W. Eliot 

MOORI-IELD StOKEV 

Caspar F. Goodrich 
JuDsoN Harmon 
George Haven Putman 
Joseph H. Choate, Jr. 



MVRON T. Herrick 
Henry Watterson 
George W. Wickersham 
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. 
Henry van Dyke 
William D. Guthrie 

Charles J. Bonaparte 

Charles P. Johnson 

W. R. Hodges 

Charles Stewart Davisox 

^[\^RIrE Leon 



LAFAYETTEE-MARNE DAY COMMITTEE OF NEW YORK 

Executive Committee 

Charles Stewart Davison, chairman 



Maurice Leon, vice chairman 



W. Redmond Cross, treasurer 



Joseph H. Choate, Jr. 



chairman, dinner committee 



Lawrence F. Abbott 
John G. Agar 
Mrs. Robert Bacon 
Franklin Q. Brown 
George W. Burleigh 
Mrs. Leland E. Cofer 
John Jay Chapman 
Henry P. Davison 
W'illiam Curtis Demorest 
Victor J. Dowling 



Cass Gilbert 
Alexander J. Hemphill 
A. Barton Hepburn 
John G. Luke 
Alton B. Parker 
John Quinn 
Edward W. Sheldon 
J. G. Phelps Stokes 
Whitney Warren 
Cor.n'Elius W. Wickersham 



INTRODUCTORY REMAEKS BY MAURICE LEON, TOASTMASTER. 

Ladies and Gentlemen : The task of Toastmaster tonight is a singulaiiy 
3 y^cc simple one, owing to our desire to save our distingaiished gaiest as much of the 
strain of tlie well-known American hospitalitj- as possible, and so in one toast — let 
me propose to you, — 

The Presidents of the United States and of France, our iSister Republics, 
and in the words of Washington's toast, "France and America, united forever." 
(Applause, followed by the plajdng of the Marsellaise and the Star Spangled 
Banner). 

We dehght to do honor to the man who helped Italy save the day at the Piave 
in October, 1917; who helped Britain, with her back to the wall, save the day in 
March and April, 1918, and who, when the front at the Chemin des Dames was broken, 
in command of that great retreat, thought out with his eminent coUeagTie and Chief, 
Marshal Foch, and carried out the second victorious Battle of the Marne. (Applause) 

Standing here tonight, I cannot help recalling another occasion in this room. 
Some of you, no doubt remember it with me. In May, 1917, we were gathered here 
to honor Marshal Joffre. He came to us just as we were entering the war. With all 
the confusion attendant upon our state of unpreparedness, his contribution to our 
efforts at that time, our efforts to make a start, cannot be overestimated. But there 
are other figures than that of the well-beloved commander at the first Battle of the 
Marne, that occur to me, men who were here on the same occasion. It is unthinkable 
they should not be mentioned tonight. You all remember among them the man, who, 
through our painful neutrality, from time to time blurted out what was in the Amer- 
ican mind and conscience, and who helped so much to make the American mind think 
along lines of wisdom and reason. Some of you undoubtedly remember him, when, be- 
ing the Chairman of the Conamittee who greeted Marshal Joffre, Mr. Viviani, Mr. Bal- 
four, — when JOSEPH H. CHOATE (Applause) iound the word which at last gave 
us a starting point, when, without underestimating the difficulties of those in power, 
he cried out, the day before the banquet in this room, — 

"For Grod's sake, hurry up." 

Well, that was a bugle cry. It was a trumpet call which swept the country, and even 
while it was resounding around our four corners, the work of making war was at last 
beg-un. 

Nor can we forget another fig-ure. He too was here at that time, the man who 
led America to the war and through the war, THEODIORB ROOlSEVELT. (Ap- 
plause) 

And am^ong those here to welcome our distinguished guests of that time, you all 
remember JOHN PURROY MITOHEL (Applause) and his fine example of courage. 

It would be also unthinkable not to speak in the presence of our distinguished 
guest of another man who in a whole souled way, gave himself to the cause which was 
France's cause, and which was our cause from the start, who saw it to be such from the 
start, who devoted himself to it from the start, ROBERT BACON. (Applause) 

These four men, so different, yet had something in common. They helped us 
through a great ordeal, and it would be a very unfitting greeting to our guest which 
would not include mention of their names. 

Now, my task is done, and it is a great pleasure for me to pass the badge of au- 
thority to my neighbor on the right, my friend, Mr. JOHN QUINN. (Applause) 



xiDDEBSS BY JOHN QUINN. 

Genekal Fayolle and Ladies and Gentlemen : 

Mr. Leon's brief reminiscent remarks prompt me to one word of further re- 
miniscence of a time tliat goes back to the first days of the German war. The 
war had not long beg-un when Mr. Leon and some of us on this side who were asso- 
ciated with him, got into it as far as we could. At the time when we were urged, 
almost ordered, by the then Secretary of State of the United States and by others 
in high office in Washington to be neutral in thought and in words as well as acts, 
Mr. Leon and others, whom I see here tonight, were neutral neither in thought nor 
in words nor in acts, and we took no pains to conceal our sympathy with the Allies 
and our detestation of Germany and Germanism. (Applause) 

In the Niagara of admissions and recriminations, under the guise and in the 
form of German history and German autobiographies, that are pouring from the 
presses of Germany, we have observed some interesting confessions, and one of them 
is the official confession of the present German office-holders — I won't call them a 
Government — that they were disappointed in the attitude and acts of the German 
Americans in America during the war, disappointed because the eighteen or twenty 
million German Americans in America did not keep America neutral. Well, we 
know what the Germans are in this countxy and we also know what the Germans 
are in Germany and in other countries. We know that in Germany for the most 
part they were and are a nation of organized and industrious mediocrities. We 
know that in this countiy they are industrious mediocrities, but without the or- 
ganization that they had in Germany. While they for years had advertised them- 
selves as supermen in Germany, supermen in business and industry and politics, in 
war, in diplomacy and even in arts and "Kultur," we knew iby experience that 
they were not supermen here. Here we knew by experience that they were mediocre 
barbers, bad waiters, successful butchers, excellent brewers, good musicians, and 
veritable captains of industry in the delicatessen business. (Laughter). But as far 
as contributing to what they are fond of calling the "Kultural" Ufe of the country, 
their record in the United States was and is almost zero. 

So it is no surprise to us that the Germans in Gennany in their explanations of 
their defeat confess that the German Americans failed in the efforts that Germany 
expected them to make to keep the United iStates neutral during the war. The re- 
sult was that German propaganda to keep the United States neutral became official, 
— had to be bought and paid for — bought and paid for under the giiidance of as 
cunning and unscrupulous a gang of cut-throats as ever held official positions — Mr. 
Boy-Ed, and Mr. von-Papen, not to speak of the illustrious Dernburg and the humane 
and kindly Bernstorff. Those were the men who plotted arson, who schemed sabot- 
age, who were responsible for the destruction of millions of dollars worth of Amer- 
ican property, wliich is not yet compensated for, and who have on their conscience, 
if they ever had consciences, the lives of hundreds of American citizens. During 
that time — which was long before the United States came into the war, of course — 
German propaganda — newspapers bought and paid for — was also in full swing. It 
is a little difficult now to think back over a period of more than six years and to realize 



JUN 1 1921 



vividly how sometimes the issue of neutrality seemed to balance in the public opinion 
of this country. We all know what the so-called leaders of G-erman thought did, or 
rather what they did not do, and that they never repudiated or expressed regret 
for the fiendish barbarities of the German army and navy which were applauded and 
rejoiced in by the German people. We know the shameful, the brazen defense that 
the ninety-three so-called German intellectuals, the German scientists, historians, 
theologians, artists and philosophers, made of the German entry into the war, a 
pronouncement that ought to remain to the eternal shame of German science and 
so-called philosophy and scholarship, a pronouncement which ought to make inter- 
course with intellectual Germany impossible xmtil that shameful declaration has 
been explicitly withdrawn and publicly atoned for. 

There was one man who was prompt to marshall "the evidence in the case" from 
the beginning, long before we were forced into the war, one man who stood out, 
whose contributions to the demonstration of German guilt have won for him the 
gratitude of the people of this country and the people of all of the Allies. He is 
the gentleman whom I now have the honor of introducing to you, Mr. James M. 
Beck. (Applause) 

ADDRESS OF HONOEABLB JAMBS M. BECK. 

General Fayolle, Mk. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

I am greatly privileged in being one of those selected to interpret the abundant 
good- will that this and any American audience would feel for the distinguished guest 
of the night, and for the great and glorious army that he so fittingly represents by 
the desigTiation of its supreme commander, Marshal Fooh. (Applause) 

I think the Chairman has wisely warned us to spare General Fayolle any ex- 
tended address, — as he is, as he now realizes, the involxmtary victim of American 
hospitality. Nansen, you remember, drifted across the Pole in the Fram and endured 
two years of terrible hardship in the Arctic winter, but when he came back unbroken 
in health, and made one lecturing tour across our Continent, he broke down under 
American hospitality. Our gniest tonight must be very tired, and therefore we must 
say briefly but with full hearts that which impels us to gather tonight in his honor, 
and which we hope enables us, through him, to convey a message of greeting and 
good-will to his great commander. Marshal Foch, and the army that he represents 
in France. 

Our guest has come to America at a peculiar time, and our present political 
strife might suggest to him that there was in this country some reaction from the 
heroic memories of the Great War, to which reference has been made tonight. I 
think, however, that the reaction is simply that of a transition period of reconstruc- 
tion and cannot fairly be regarded as more than one of the eddies of a mighty 
stream that rolls to its appointed end. 

We are busily engaged in two mighty problems in this country; one, to deter- 
mine whether nine gentlemen from Cleveland can run around four bases faster than 
an other nine, which represent Brooklyn. This important question takes up a large 
amount of space on the first pages of our newspapers. The second and other prob- 
lem, and which ought to interest General Fayolle is, that we are now electing by 



popular ballot the next commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United 
States (Applause and Laughter), and it may be said that those who are named for 
that very high honor have, none of them, any military experience that can be bragged 
about at this board. (Laughter) 

However, these temporary eddies, as I say, of a mighty current mean so little 
to any one who looks in the perspective of history. I crossed the ocean last sum- 
mer, and found that after I had traversed some 2,000 miles of inhospital waters, that 
I came to a mysterious current, called the Gulf Stream. I could not tell where I 
entered it, or where we left it. What I did know was that the air became balmier, 
and that this great Gulf Stream, proceeding whence we know not, and whither we 
know not, yet has the fructifying power of bringing health, and fertility to distant 
lands that otherwise would be mere wildernesses. It is precisely so with this ocean 
of American public opinion. There are indeed many waves tossing high at the mo- 
ment, and there is a certain confusion as to what the waves portend. But so far as 
our Allies of the Great War, and notably so far as France, — so dear always to 
American memory, — are concerned now as always, there runs through this great ocean 
of conglomerate humanity, the American people, a mighty gulf stream of sjTiipathy 
and good-will towards France and our Allies. 

I can perhaps give you an illustration of how little importance we ought to at- 
tach to these temporary eddies in comparison to the current of popular sjTnpathy. 
The most sacred place of all America is Valley Forge, — where our gTiest 's great 
compatriot, Lafayette, suffered with Washington and the men, whose bleeding feet 
marked their paths among the snow. When that terrible winter had passed away 
and the spring had come, there came to Washington's little army the glorious news 
that France had signed an alliance with the infant colonies, and Washington with 
his own hand framed the order to celebrate so great an event in the world's history. 
That order was, that his little army, — French and American, — should be assembled 
on the banks of the Schuylkill, and that thereupon, to the rolling of the drums and to 
the thrice rei^eated roar of the cannon, there should be given three cheers, — the first, 
for France, the second, for all the friendly European allies, and the last, for the 
American states. Those cheers which awoke the echoes in the valley of the Schuyl- 
kill now nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, have never ceased their reverbera- 
tions. Well, the time came, that following in the reaction from the Eevolutionary 
War, there was a temporary ebb in the flow of enthusiasm for France, while even 
after the second visit of Lafayette there was an acute tension between France and the 
United States in Jackson's time. To show how little importance is to be attached to 
these eddies, the fact remains, and it is the great psychological fact, that your dry- 
as-dust historian too often ignores, that the great impulse that in 1917 brought Amer- 
ica into the World war was not merely the sinking of this or that vessel upon the high 
seas, but the deep, sub-conscious feeling of the American conscience that the great 
service rendered to us by France in our hour of direst peril should be repaid in her 
hour of stress. It was no unmeaning thing that Pershing said at the tomb of La- 
fayette, "Lafayette, we are here." 

We Americans do not merely build upon the memory of Lafayette and Eocham- 
•beau and DeGrasse. We have other great memories, General Fayolle ; there is hard- 
ly an American boy, no matter how little history he may know of other nations, who 



does not know of Napoleon and his great marshals, — Massena, and Ney, and Davoust 
and Soult, and Lamies and many others, whose names are emblazoned, in glory, but as 
one star will fade into another, so I venture to say that when the temporary eddies 
that are now in progress in American thought have passed away, the American boy 
of the future generation will have among the very heroes of his soul a new set of 
marshals. There will be Joffre and Foch and Castelnau and Mangin and Maunoury 
and Franohet d'EJsperey and Petain and General Fayolle. (Applause) 

These memories will help Franco-American relations in a way that I can illus- 
trate, if I may borrow an analogy from the Church of our Roman Catholic Brethren; 
and they will avail us in the trying hours of the international complications that are 
inevitable in a distracted world in the years to come. Our Roman Catholic brethren 
have or had, I know not which, a very beautiful belief that they describe in the lau- 
gTiage of the church as the ' ' Treasury of the iSaints ' '. There were some saints whose 
superfluous merits not only availed for their own salvation, but being in excess of 
their own needs, they became a part of the Treasury of the Church, and could help 
for the salvation of lesser moi-tals, and I think it is true that America and Prance have 
in common, a Treasury of the Saints. They have the great names of past history, 
and of current history, some of whom I have already mentioned, which do not now 
appear in all their surpassing greatness, as they wiU in the futnre centuries, for ex- 
actly as a man standing at the base of Mount Blanc cannot see its snow white sum- 
mit, so we cannot see the immeasurable greatness of the titanic struggle that so re- 
cently ended, and because we do not see it, we cannot appreciate the surpassing 
greatness of the men who wrought and achieved the most amazing military triumph 
in aU history. Take for example, if I may be pardoned, just one feature of the 
Battle of the Mame. Have you Americans ever measured the magnitude of that 
battle 1 Let me measure in my terms of American geography, and then you will see 
that it so far dwarfs all previous battles in the history of the woi'ld that except in 
their consequence, they are not to be mentioned in comparison with it. 

The Battle of the Mame from Piaris to Nancy to the south, is approximately the 
distance from New York to Pittsburg, and if you can imagine an army pivoting in 
New Yiork, with its left wing in Pittsburgh, and then in the midst of the most ter- 
rific impact that was ever known in military history, with the whole front from 
New York to Pittsburg defended by a million men, swinging back in perfect coordi- 
nation until its left wing in Pittsburg was at length at Washington, then you have a 
conception of the mere geographical area of that which probably "will be ranked as 
the greatest battle in the world. They fought against overwhelming odds. I mention 
this because I think it should be mentioned in the presence of one who was part of 
the brains of that campaign, a gallant soldier on Foch's staff, and contributed so 
much to the marvellous coordination of this great battle line. Apart from the im- 
mortal bravery of the French soldier, there was in the victory of the Mame an in- 
tellectual achievement that has never been surpassed in all military history. 

I spent last winter with a great deal of interest reading the German accounts 
of the Mame, and that which impressed me was the intellectual genius of the French 
as compared with the pedantic thoroughness and scientific method of the Germans, 
the one depending upon the power of improvization as Napoleon would have, — the 
other upon a pedantic theory that had been wrought out for twenty-five years before 



G 

by Von Schlieffen and tlie elder Von Moltke. The task that Joft're sustained was to 
bring back his entire army from Charleroi all the way to the Mame. It involved won- 
derful intellectual power. With roads clogged with refugees, villages smoking and 
in flames before them, with the hurry and rush of the most tremendous impact that 
miUtary war has ever known, Joft're brought his army back in such perfect coordina- 
tion, that when Joffre's armies were ordered to turn, and die in their tracks before 
they yielded another inch of the sacred soil of France, the coordination was so per- 
fect and in such marked contrast with the lack of coordination of their adversaries, — 
the reputedly greatest military machine in the world, — that the victory was won, not 
merely by the immortal bravery of the soldier in the ranks but by the clarity of 
French genius, by that marvelous mind that never lost its poise, that never for a 
moment lost courage, and that at the precise moment, turned with an inferior force 
and drove back the Germans nearly fifty miles, and saved civilization. (Tremendous 
applause.) 

Now, I have already spoken longer than I intended, and I have already vio- 
lated a suggestion of this tabloid speech. I remember last Summer in Stratford, I 
saw the play of Hamlet, and I was very much impressed with the fact that the 
ghost of Hamlet in the first act delivered the longest after-dimier speech on record, 
because you remember it was exactly midnight when Hamlet came upon the battle- 
ment, and the ghost appeared and it was dawn when the latter ended his speech. I 
have always thought that Hamlet's interpolations in the Ghost's veiy extended 
speech when he said, "Alas, poor Ghost", as though he were wound up, and again 
"Oh, horrible, horrible, horrible" properly measured the pernicious influence of a 
speaker who says, "Brief must I be", aiid then fails to be brief. (Laughter). 

However, I camiot conclude this little talk without saying to General Fayolle 
that he is one of the saints in this great struggle, whose superfluous merits are go- 
ing to avail for the salvation of our two countries. Let me tell him, and I hope that 
he will take the message back not as coming from me, but from the great heart of 

the American people, that while we may differ with respect to the methods of 

our participation in world affairs, there is no real difference among the American 
people, except a negligible minority, as to the great question, that we not only want 
to play a real part in the readjustment and reconstruction of a disordered civiliza- 
tion, but we want to play that part side by side Avith France. (Applause). 

We may not be sympathetic Avith any form of an alliance with all possible pow- 
ers, because there are some with which we have scant sympathy, but if history does 
not mislead us, we know we have the very deepest sjinpathy and comradeship with 
a sister republic, our younger sister, because we are the older repi;blic of the two. 

We know that her ideals are our ideals, her achievements are partly our achieve- 
ments. We know that we wrought our work of independence with the aid of valor- 
ous France, and we know that in this later period of stress and storm, when civili- 
zation shook to its very foundations, and no one knew whether civilization in the fu- 
ture might not be that of a barbarous autocracy, — that it was again France, on the 
frontier of civilization that stood and stood and waited, without whining or complain- 
ing, until we came. 

It was said a few minutes ago, — I hope it will never be forgotten, — that that 
one short speech of Choate will probably be remembered beyond all his legal argu- 



ments, when he voiced the anguish and anxiety of this country with his '"For 
Grod's Sake, hurry up"; but I recall another, spoken by one at this board, the bril- 
liant Consul-Greneral of Ftance, who not very long after Choate had uttered this 
ciy of alarm, said, at a Uttle dinner that I was present, these four words, and they 
were said with French wit, and hke French wit, it went to the very heart of the ques- 
tion. He said to an audience of Americans, 

"Don't worry; only hurry". (Applause) 

And that was France's attitude, "Don't worry, only hurry". We did appear, and 
it is a matter of profound gratification to us that a part of our army was in 
that Group of Armies so ably led by the disting-uished guest of the night, so that 
iie had, what I trust he will regard as a great privilege, — the leadership of the 
American armies, "somewhere in France", to use that term of exquisite beauty." 

Last 'Summer I was over on the other side and I went to Verdun, and taking 
a car I left Verdun and went across the Bellevue Hills, and saw that which I did 
not see in 1916, when I was the guest of General Dubois in Verdun, because then 
the Germans were there, but now, they had been swept away, and I could see those 
places of immortal memory, — Dououment and I'Hemme du Mort, the Eort 
of Death Valley. As I climbed the heights of Dououment, I was touched by a mem- 
orial, the most beautiful memorial, — I do not mean framed by the hand of an ar- 
tist, — but in the eloquence of its meaning. It was near the crest of Dououment a 
little red cross surmounting the mount, and about it the graves of some of those 
"children of France", who had died for their country, and I looked at the inscrip- 
tion, and I shall never forget it. This was the inscription," 

August 1916 
"They shall not pass" 
Nov. 11th, 1918, 
"They did not pass." (Applause) 

They did not pass. Thank God. Most of all we owe it to the soldiers of France, and 
among those who have deserved well, was the distinguished general whom we great- 
ly honor, whom we welcome here tonight, and to whom we say, not "Hail and Fare- 
well", but in the exquisite language of his own country we say, 

'"Bon Voyage and Au Revoir." (Applause) 

ME. QUINN : Mr. Beck, I had hoped, would allude to one recent bit of history, 
but as he has not mentioned it I venture to do so. 

I wonder how many in this room realize what the situation in Europe was two 
months ago yesterday. A few days before August 10, 1920, the Bolsheviks had an- 
nounced that Warsaw would be taken on the 11th and then on the 12th of August. 
At that time there were two Soviet emissaries in London, one a Russian of the 
name of Kameneff, whose real name is Rosehfeld and who is Trotzky's brother-in- 
law, and the other Krassin. On the morning of August 10, 1920, those two Bolshe- 
vik emissaries published in London the Bolshevik condition of peace for Poland. 

Now in what I am about to say I shall deal only with recent historical facts. In 



8 

calling attention to these recent facts, I am sure that no one will understand that 
I do not appreciate fully the importance of international good will and of amity be- 
tween the Allies. I am also sure that no one will misinterpret what I am about to 
say as inspired by any lack of the desire to give full credit and honor to the glor- 
ious part that England played in the war from the very beginning. We know how 
the pacifists in the British Government must have embarrassed and obstructed Sir 
Edward Grey in his desire that Great Britain should discharge her plain duty to 
herself and her honorable obligation to France in those first trying days of the war. 
I personally can never forget that short but great letter that Mr. Bonar Law sent 
to Mr. Asquith, dated Aug-ust 2, 1914. It is worth reading again; and, as Mr. L. 
J. Maxse has said, it was aU the more efficacious because it was not disfignired by 
the paralyzing word "Private". Here it is: 

"August 2, 1914. 
Dear Mr. Asquith : 

Lord Lansdowne and I feel it our duty to inform you that, in our 
opinion, as well as in that of all the colleagues whom we have been able 
to consult, it would be fatal to the honor and security of the United King- 
dom to hesitate in supporting France and Russia at the present juncture, 
and we offer our unhesitating support to the Government in any measures 
they may consider necessary for that object. 

Yours very truly, 

A. Bonar Law" 

It was only after the sending of that note that France received a definite pledge 
of British support. From that day onward to the end, England played her part 
and played it greatly. (Applause). She is onr friend and, so far as I can see into 
the future, will, I hope, always remain our friend. (Applause) 

But I am going now to take the liberty of a friend and be frank tonight on one 
point of very recent history. That brings me to August 10, 1920, just two months 
and one day ago. The terms that the two Soviet emissaries were willing to bestow 
upon Poland were published that morning in the London papers and included, among 
other conditions, the following terms : the demoholization of the Polish army down 
to a negligible force of some 15,000 men ; surrender to the Soviets of all cannon and 
artillery and war material of all kinds except the arms necessary for that pitiful 
force of 15,000 men ; the 15,000 army thus graciously to be allowed to Poland to con- 
sist of a labor army, obviously to be dominated by the Soviets ; the demolition of 
all munition factories in Poland ; the prohibition of further importation of arms and 
war supplies into Poland from abroad ; the destruction of the Polish corridor and the 
practical surrender of Danzig to the Bolshe\^ks ; and then when they had made Poland 
helpless, when they had stripped her of everything that made for Polish national se- 
curity and Polish self-respect, the Bolsheviks would graciously agree to reduce their 
forces upon the Polish borders to such numbers as would be pleasing to the Bolsheviks. 
In short, Russia that morning announced to the world that she was going 
to do to Poland — no, not Rnssia, but the Bolshevist minority which is tyrannizing 
Russia — ^was going to do to Poland -what the Germans boasted they would do to 
Belgium, what they thought they were certain to do. Those were roughly the 



terms published by Herr Kameneff and Herr Krassin in London on the morning 
of August 10, 1920. Tliat evening Mr. George made one of Ms long, rambling 
speeclies in the House of Commons. The causes that led Mr. George to make that 
speech contain, I think, a valuable lesson for the people of this country. Many of 
you of course know that for many months before that time certain professorial 
anarchists ajid certaia psychological socialists in Ejngiand like Mr. Bertie Russell, 
and other pacifists and pseudo anarchists had been proclaiming that conditions in 
Russia were ideal, that Lenine and Trotzky and their co-religionists and co-sup- 
porters were the archangels of the new dispensation, that Bolshevism meant, if not 
peace on earth, iSovietism on earth, and if not good will to men, the triumph of 
the German ideas of Karl Marx. Those things had been said so many times that 
Enghsh labor, in its pitiful ignorance and provinciality, had come to believe that 
Bolshevism was a new revelation and a new dispensation. The result was that 
English labor, through the so-called council of action, dictated its own foreign 
policy to the English cabinet and the English Government. Nobody believes that 
Mr. George willingly made the shameful speech that I am about to refer to. Ob- 
viously he made it at the dictation of English labor, and it is a shameful episode 
that I am sure all self-respecting Englishmen regretted then and must still regret 
deeply. The irony of the situation was that scarcely had Mr. George made that 
shameful speech when those same philosophical anarchists and psychological social- 
ists and communistic professors and male and female pacifists returned from Rus- 
sia to England to proclaim and confess their disillusion and to admit that instead 
of a new dispensation Bolshevism meant brutal tyranny by a small minority, star- 
vation, unspeakable cruelty and veritable hell on earth. But so far as Mr. George 
was concerned the mischief had been done. British labor had been taught for so 
many months that Bolshevism was a new heaven that Mr. George felt compelled to 
surrender to labor's idea on the Polish question. 

Mr. George in his speech (blamed Poland for having aittacked Russia. His 
speech showed that he had lost his nerve, and although he tried to cover up his 
shameful surrender by a grandiloquent flourish about "meeting them at Philippi" 
at the end of his speech, the whole speech was one long note of resignation and 
hopelessness and was nothing but an admission to the Bolshevists and to the woi^ld 
of England's unconditional surrender of Poland to the Bolshevists to do with Po- 
land what they would. In that speech Mr. George said over and over again that 
Russia was entitled to exact any guarantees that she thought necessary for her 
future relations with Poland. It should be remembered that that speech was de- 
livered on the same day that the Bolshe^ak terms to Poland were announced in Lon- 
don, terms from which Mr. George did not dissent but, on the contrary, in the face of 
those terms he announced that Russia was entitled to exact any guarantees that Rus- 
sia saw fit to impose upon Poland. Of course, the speech contained the usual Geor- 
gian flap-doodle about the preservation of Polish nationality and the usual flourish 
that if the Bolsheviks -should attempt to stamp out the life of Poland, if they tried 
to obliterate Poland as a nation, then they should look out and they would be met at 
Philippi, which at that time seemed a long way from Warsaw. That was Mr. Lloyd 
George's message to the Bolsheviks and his announcement to the world. Those who 
have taken to heart the lessons of the German war and of the armistice and of the 



10 

treaty of peace, realized then that the future of Poland as an independent nation was 
the keystone in the arch of European peace. Two months ago yesterday, on August 
10, 1920, the Prime Minister of Great Britain told the Bolsheviks of Russia that 
whatever guarantees Russia demanded Poland must give. The only justification I 
have ever heard attempted of Mr. G-eorge's shameful declaration was that it was 
dictated by English labor, which had been misguided by the social theorists and 
professorial ignoramuses, who had dogmatised about conditions in Russia in ignor- 
ance of the facts. 

But clear-eyed France, peace-loving France, realized the importance of the 
crisis. When England, under the leadership of Mr. George, was willing to have 
Polish liberty crushed and extirpated in blood and iron, when the last act of the 
Polish drama was seemingly about to be played before a Eiurope too weary to in- 
terfere, and to the applause of Germany, when the Germans in Danzig had closed 
that so-called free port to the Poles, France said No! While England was willing 
to stand aloof, grudging and disparaging and parleying with the enemies of the 
world, France, glorious France, came to the relief of Poland. The attitude of 
England must have been one of the most humiliating and painful to self-respecting 
Englishmen that a great country has ever adopted. And what a contrast to the 
glorious courage of France! 

France realized. Marshal Foch realized, her great President, Millerand, reaUzed 
that the Battle of Warsaw would rank with the first Battle of the Mame as one of 
the greatest events in history and the most salutary. Tonight we are able to rejoice 
with France in a happier hour. France has not bragged about her part in that great 
fight for Polish liberty, and it is because France has not bragged that we feel justi- 
fied in honoring the representative of the Army of France here tonight. In alluding 
to this recent crisis I realize how dependent the vast stakes at issue in the world 
are upon good relations between France and England and the United States. But 
I think that good international relations are always furthered by frankness, and I 
believe that that revolting episode in recent English history, which was one of the 
most stupid things ever done by a prime minister, will prove to be a salutary lesson 
and will perhaps prevent England's foreign policies from again being dictated by 
English labor, which in that case was provincial, ignorant and presumptious. 

France knows that the way to prevent war is not by lecturing at Chautauquas, 
not by writing notes to the Bolshevik commissioners, but by enforcing the treaty of 
peace with arms. France knows, and I believe that the people of the United States 
realize, that such a use of armed force was not war inspired by militaristic ideas but 
merely efficient international policing. 

France is the country whose representative, whose military representative, we 
are gathered here to honor. France has not boasted of what she did. I have never 
found a representative Frenchman to say that France won the war. Because France 
has not boasted, we honor the soldier whom Marshal Foch, when he could not come 
here, sent to represent the French Army and him, GENERAL FAYOLLE. (The en- 
tire assemblage rose and applauded) 



11 

DISCOUES DU GENERAL PAYOLLE 

Mesdames, 
Messieurs, 

II y a eu deux Batailles de la Manie : la premiere, celle de 1914 est une victoire 
Frangaise; elle marque 1 'arret de 1 'offensive allemande et I'eohec du plan initial de 
I'ennemi. (Applaudissements) 

La seconde, celle de 1918, est une victoire Franoo-Americaine ; (Applaudisse- 
ments) elle marque le commencement de la defaite irreparable de I'adversaire. 
C'est de cette seconde bataille que je venx vous parler, et pour plusieurs raisons: 

Tout d'abord paroe que, compatriote de Lafayette, je m'adresse ce soir a des 
Americains, et ensuite parce que dans cette seconde bataille, j'ai eu la bonne for- 
tune de commander les premieres divisions Americanes engagees au milueu des 
notres, et d'apprecier la valeur militaire de vos admirables soldats. 

Vous avez eu raison, Mesdames et Messieurs, de rapprocher les deux anniver- 
saires : Lafayette-la Marne, car ce rapprochement a pour nos deux nations une signi- 
fication profonde et durable. 

De meme que Lafayette est un lieros qui appartient a nos deux patries, de 
meme la Marne s'inserit comme une grande victoire sur nos deux drapeaux. 
(Applaudissements) 

Chateau-Thierry! 

C'etait a I'un des moments les plus Cfritiques de la goierre. L'ennenii avait 
rompu le front, franchi I'Aisne, la Vesle, atteint la Marne. Une fois deplus 1 'inva- 
sion menagait la route de Paris, lorsque vos belles divisions entrerent dans la 
fournaise. 

Des son arrivee en France, le Greneral Pershing avait, sur le tombeau de 
Lafayette prononee les paroles memorables: "Lafayette, nous voila!" — Puis pas- 
sant des paroles aux actes, il etait venu des le 28 Mars 1918 mettre ses premieres 
divisions disponibles aux ordres du Haut Commandement Frangais. Avec une claire 
vision des evenements qui se precipitaient, avec un geste que aurait suffi a le faire 
entrer dans I'histoire, il avait dit au Marechal Foch: "Mes divisions, les voila, faites 
en ce que vous voudrez!" (Applaudissements) 

Le 31 Mai, la deuxieme division quittait son oamp d 'instruction et s 'etait jetee 
en travers de la route de Chateau-Thierry a Paris; la troisieme venait border la 
Marne, et ses mitrailleurs, devangant I'infanterie, arretaient implaoablement I'en- 
nemi aux ponts de Chateau-Thierry. Bien plus, Mesdames et Messieurs, quelques 
jours plus tard, ces memos troupes prenaient 1 'offensive au nord de la Marne, 
enlevaient le Bois Belleau (Applaudissements) les villages de Bouresches et de 
Vaux avec un entrain magnifique, et marquaient ainsi a I'ennemi leur ferme volonte 
de vaincre! 

Pfuis, le 18 Juillet, cinq divisions americaines prenaient part a la centre- 
offensive des armees Mangin et Degoutte que j 'avals I'honneur de commander. Ces 
belles troupes, qui constituaient un tiers des forces engagees, capturaient des milliers 
de prisonniers et des centaines de canons. La contre-offensive des Allies n'allait 
plus s'arreter jusqu'au Ehin. (Applaudissements) 

Je ne vous parle pas, Mesdames et Messieurs, des batailles livrees par I'armee 



12 

amerioaine aux ordres du G-eneral Pershing, et qui se resument dans les deux belles 
victoires de St Mihiel et de Meuse-Argonne, parce que ce sont la des \dctoires pure- 
ment americaines et qui j'ai voulu rappeler seulement la victoire Frawco-^mencawie 
de la Marne. 

Dans les annees qui viendrout, on elevera des monuments en France, dans ce.tte 
ville si f rangaise de Chateau-Thierry, patrie de Lafontaine, sur les bords de la Mame, 
cette riviere paisible qui marqua dans le cours de notre histoire I'arret des inva- 
sions barbares. Vous en eleverez egalement dans votre pays pour perpetuer le 
souvenir de vos morts glorieux. Ces monuments rappelleront a nos enfants, aux 
generations futures, que notre victoire fut le resultat de notre union, et de notre 
etroite collaboration dans la guerre, ils comprendront alors que leur devoir est de 
maintenir dans la paix, et pour assurer la paix, les liens qui furent et qui resterent 
notre force. (Applaudissements) 

Nlil plus que moi, Mesdames et Messieurs, n'est convaincu de la necessite de 
maintenir et de resserrer chaque jour da vantage I'union de nos deux pays; En 
verite, tout nous rapproche, rien ne nous separe ; nos interets ne sont pas divergents, 
ils sont paralleles. 

Tout nous rapproche ; dans le passe, les souvenirs de luttes soutenues ensemble ; 
dans le present, le meme amour de la liberte et du droit des peuples, le meme de- 
vouement a nos deux demoeraties. 

C'est pourquoi, Mesdames et Messieurs, en vous remerciant de tout coeur de 
I'accueil que vous venez de faire au representant de la France et de son armee 
je bois a I'union indissoluble, chaque jour plus etroite et plus efficace, de la France et 
de I'Ameriqne. (A la fin de son discours, le General Fayolle est I'objet d'une longue 
ovation.) 

[Translation] 
Ladies and Gentlemen : 

There were two battles of the Mame ; the first that of 1914 is a French victory ; 
it marks the stoppage of the German offensive and the failure of the initial plan of 
the enemy. (Applause) 

The second, that of 1918 is a Franco-American victory (applause). It marks 
the beginning of the irreparable defeat of the adversary. It is of this second battle 
that I wish to speak to you and that for several reasons : 

First of all because being a countryman of Lafayette I am speaking tonight to 
Americans and then because in this second battle I had the good fortune to com- 
mand the first American division in action among ours and to appreciate the military 
valor of your admirable soldiers. 

You are right. Ladies and Gentlemen, to bring together these two anniversaries : 
Lafayette-The Mame, for tMs coincidence has for our two nations a deep and 
durable significance. 

Just as Lafayette is a hero who belongs to both our countries, so the Mame is 
insorihed as a great victory on both our flags. (Applause) 

Chateau-Thierry ! 

It was at one of the most critical moments of the war. The enemy had broken 
the front, crossed the Aisne, the Vesle, reached the Mame. Once more invasion 



13 

threatened the road to Paris, when your fine divisions entered the furnace. 

Immediately upon his arrival in France, General Pershing, at the tomb of La- 
fayette had pronounced those memorable words : ' ' Lafayette, we are here. ' ' Then 
passing from words to action, he came as early as March 28, 1918 to place his first 
available divisions under the orders of the French High Commander. With a clear 
vision of the events which were rushing upon one another, he had said to Marshal 
Foch: "My di^dsions, here they are; do with them whatever you will." (Applause) 

On May 31, the second division left its training camp and had just thrown itself 
across the road from Chateau-Thierry to Paris ; the third was along the Marne and 
its machine gunners going forward of the infantry, stopped implacably the enemy 
at the bridges of Chateau-Thierry. Even more. Ladies and Gentlemen, some days 
later these same troops took the offensive to the north of the Marne, carried Belleau 
"Wood (applause), the villages of Bouresches and of Vaux, with magnificent spirit, 
and marked thus to the enemy their firm will to win. 

Then on July 18, five American divisions took part in the counter-offensive of 
the Mang-in and Degoutte armies which I had the honor to command. These fine 
troops, which constituted one-third of the forces engaged, captured thousands of 
prisoners and hundreds of gnins. The counter-offensive of the Allies was not to stop 
until the Ehine. (Applause) 

I shall not speak to you, Ladies and Gentlemen, of the battles fought by the 
American Army under the orders of General Pershing, and which resulted in these 
two fine victories of St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne, because these are purely 
Aonerican victories and I wish to recall to you only the Franco-American victory 
of the Marne. 

In the years which will come monuments will be raised in France in this city 
of Chateau-Thierry, so French, the home of Laf ontaine, on the shores of the Marne, 
this peaceable river which marked in the course of our history, the stoppage of bar- 
barian invasions. 

You also will raise monuments in your country to perpetuate the memory of 
your glorious dead. These monuments will recall to your children, to the future 
generations, that our victory was the result of our union, and of our close co-oper- 
ation in the war; they will understand then that their duty is to maintain peace, 
and in order to insure peace the bonds which were and will remain our strength. 
(Applause) 

None more than I, Ladies and Gentlemen, is convinced of the necessity of main- 
taining and making closer, each day more, the union of our two countries. In truth, 
all draws us near ; nothing separates us ; our interests are not divergent ; they are 
parallel. All draws us near; in the past, the remembrances of struggles borne to- 
gether; in the present, the same love of liberty and the rights of peoples, the same 
devotion to our two democracies. 

This is why. Ladies and Gentlemen, in thanking you wholeheartedly for your wel- 
come to the representative of France and of her army, I drink to the indissoluble 
union, each day closer and more efficacious, of France and America. 

(At the end of his address General Fayolle was the object of a long ovation.) 



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